Total orbital angular momentum and total spin angular momentum

For atoms in the first three rows and those in the first two columns of the periodic table, the atom can be described in terms of quantum numbers giving the total orbital angular momentum and total spin angular momentum of a given state. The total orbital angular momentum is the sum of the orbital angular momenta from each of the electrons; it has magnitude √(L(L + 1)) (ℏ), in which L is an integer. The possible values of L depend on the individual l values and the orientations of their orbits for all the electrons composing the atom. The total spin momentum has magnitude √(S(S + 1)) (ℏ), in which S is an integer or half an odd integer, depending on whether the number of electrons is even or odd. The possible value of the total spin angular momentum can be found from all the possible orientations of electrons within the atom. In summing the L and S values, only the electrons in unfilled shells (typically the outermost, or valence, shell) need be considered: in a closed subshell, there are as many electrons with spins oriented in one direction as there are with spins in the opposite direction, with the result that their orbital and spin momenta add up to zero. Thus, only electrons in unfilled shells contribute angular momentum to the whole atom. For light atoms and heavier atoms with just a few electrons outside the inner closed shells, the total angular momentum is approximately given by the vector sum of the total of orbital angular momentum and the total spin angular momentum. The total angular momentum has the magnitude √(J(J + 1)) (ℏ), in which J can take any positive value from L + S to |L − S| in integer steps; i.e., if L = 1 and S = 3/2, J can be 5/2, 3/2, or 1/2. The remaining quantum number, mJ, specifies the orientation of the atom as a whole; mJ can take any value from +J to −J in integer steps. A term is the set of all states with a given configuration: L, S, and J.

If the total angular momentum can be expressed approximately as the vector sum of the total orbital and spin angular momenta, the assignment is called the L-S coupling, or Russell-Saunders coupling (after the astronomer Henry Norris Russell and the physicist Frederick A. Saunders, both of the United States).

For heavier atoms, magnetic interactions among the electrons often contrive to make L and S poorly defined. The total angular momentum quantum numbers J and mJ remain constant quantities for a given state of an atom, but their values can no longer be generated by the addition of the L and S values. A coupling scheme known as jj coupling is sometimes applicable. In this scheme, each electron n is assigned an angular momentum j composed of its orbital angular momentum l and its spin s. The total angular momentum J is then the vector addition of j1 + j2 + j3 + . . . , where each jn is due to a single electron.

An isolated atom or ion in some excited state spontaneously relaxes to a lower state with the emission of one or more photons, thus ultimately returning to its ground state. In an atomic spectrum, each transition corresponding to absorption or emission of energy will account for the presence of a spectral line. Quantum mechanics prescribes a means of calculating the probability of making these transitions. The lifetimes of the excited states depend on specific transitions of the particular atom, and the calculation of the spontaneous transition between two states of an atom requires that the wavefunctions of both states be known.

The possible radiative transitions are classified as either allowed or forbidden, depending on the probability of their occurrence. In some instances, as, for example, when both the initial and final states have a total angular momentum equal to zero, there can be no single photon transition between states of any kind. The allowed transitions obey certain restrictions, known as selection rules: the J value of the atom can change by unity or zero, and if L and S are well defined within the atom, the change in L is also restricted to 0 or ±1 while S cannot change at all. The time required for an allowed transition varies as the cube of the wavelength of the photon; for a transition in which a photon of visible light (wavelength of approximately 500 nanometres) is emitted, a characteristic emission time is 1–10 nanoseconds (10−9 second).

Forbidden transitions proceed slowly compared to the allowed transitions, and the resulting spectral emission lines are relatively weak. For atoms in about the first third of the periodic table, the L and S selection rules provide useful criteria for the classification of unknown spectral lines. In heavier atoms, greater magnetic interactions among electrons cause L and S to be poorly defined, and these selection rules are less applicable. Occasionally, excited states are found that have lifetimes much longer than the average because all the possible transitions to lower energy states are forbidden transitions. Such states are called metastable and can have lifetimes in excess of minutes.

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